The Guangyuan complex is China's largest plutonium production reactor and reprocessing plant. It became operational around 1974 and was constructed as part of China’s "Third Line" efforts to duplicate the efforts of the Jiuquan plutonium production facility in Gansu Province.[1] Like Jiuquan, the Guangyuan Complex contained a graphite-moderated, water-cooled reactor suitable for the production of plutonium, and a reprocessing plant to separate the plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.[2] A nuclear weapon assembly facility may also be located at the Guangyuan site.[3]

Little is known about the power level and operating history of Guangyuan. The reactor is reported to have a similar design power but be slightly larger than the Jiuquan reactor. By the time it stopped producing plutonium by the late 1980s or early 1990s, the Guangyuan facility produced an estimated 1.1 tons of separated weapons-grade plutonium.[4]

By the late 1990s, China decided to decommission the Guangyuan site along with other military fissile material production sites.[5] As part of this process, the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) restructured the company as the Sichuan Environmental Protection Engineering Co., Ltd, which specializes in decommissioning nuclear facilities, managing radioactive waste, and nuclear-related environmental protection research and development.[6]

This material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, or agents.